Facebook ruling poses challenges for advertisers

Media writer

The body that represents the $30 billion-a-year marketing industry is digesting a decision by the ad industry watchdog that says advertisers must moderate user-generated posts on Facebook to ensure they comply with the law and ad codes.

The Australian Association of National Advertisers’ director of regulatory affairs, Alina Bain, said the ruling by the Advertising Standards Board would pose a ‘‘challenge’’ to its members who will have to bear the burden of moderating the huge volume of comments posted on brand pages by members of the public.

The ASB ruling on Smirnoff’s Facebook posts said that the content that appeared on the vodka company’s brand page constituted advertising, regardless of whether the company or members of the public posted it.

Companies will have to moderate posts to ensure that they are not sexist, racist, vilify sections of the community and are factual, or face breaching self-regulatory codes or Australian consumer law.

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“Advertisers accept they have a duty of care to avoid comments being posted on their websites that are misleading or breach the restrictions in the self-regulatory system,’’ Ms Bain said in a statement to Business Day.

‘‘The question is how that can be best achieved without destroying the integrity and spirit of social media. That’s a challenge that faces anyone, whether that be a media company, an advertiser, a blogger, whoever.’’

She continued: ‘‘We’ll review the ASB decisions and discuss with our members how we can help them meet their self-regulatory and legal responsibilities in this environment.”

The ASB is funded by a levy from advertisers.

The move could change the nature of the social networking site forever, as companies could be fined or publicly shamed for the comments that appear on their Facebook ''brand'' pages.

Social media experts were dismayed at the decision by the ASB.

David Cowling of Social Media News said: ‘‘This recent ruling is going to put additional pressure on the way brands use Facebook for promotion of their products and services.

‘‘This presents a problem for large brands that typically get thousands of comments per week on their Facebook page. How are these particular brands supposed to monitor and moderate such a large number of comments. This is ultimately a time-consuming task that will require additional resources and expense to ensure that brands social media campaign is executed in a compliant manner.’’

Large advertisers such as Qantas, Telstra and Coles are increasingly reliant on their Facebook pages to get consumers to ''like'' them and generate free referrals to their network of friends.

Social media consultant Thomas Tudehope said: “The likes of Qantas and Telstra might be in a good position to regulate what goes on their pages but I can’t see how anyone can possibly moderate the comments that come after it.”

He also questioned the preparedness of corporate Australia to ensure comments on their pages are legally compliant.

The lawyer who first spotted the implications said that it would turn the clock back on social media and advertising. John Swinson, a partner at law firm King & Wood Mallesons, said: ‘‘Advertisers have been very keen to have a two-way conversation with the public but this is is just going to stop that in its tracks. This is going to send advertising back to the days when it was all one-way.’’

He said the board's ruling "turned people's opinions into statements of facts".